


Christmas Eve in a box; just add one egg, oil, water and one heaped spoon of lunacy

by rarepairqueen



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Bad Puns, Baking, Christmas, Eggnog, Friendship, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:35:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21944452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rarepairqueen/pseuds/rarepairqueen
Summary: Kunimi decided he wanted to spend Christmas Eve hanging out and baking cookies with Kindaichi and Kageyama.Hinata the unexpected tag-along throws a spanner in the works but the end result is a new friendship and winning a bet.Oh, and brownies. Don't forget the brownies.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou & Kageyama Tobio, Kageyama Tobio & Kindaichi Yuutarou & Kunimi Akira
Comments: 6
Kudos: 90





	Christmas Eve in a box; just add one egg, oil, water and one heaped spoon of lunacy

**Author's Note:**

> To be honest, I had a different fic premise in mind but that got thrown out the window mid-afternoon on the 24th so here's a somewhat unplanned friendship fic. :) There are references to my setter squad fics that can be found [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13668918) and [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17155802)
> 
> Happy Holidays everyone <3

**Christmas Eve in a box: just add an egg, oil, water and one heaped spoon of lunacy.**

If you asked Kunimi what his Christmas Eve would consist of, making cookies from a box mix with his former teammate was not necessarily at the top of his list. Neither was inviting him over with the other half of Karasuno's freak duo. He had decided approximately three hours ago that it may not have been the smartest idea, but whatever, they were here now in his kitchen. He could kick Hinata out sure, but he wasn't going to ever live down being called 'scrooge' if he did that.

Don't get him wrong, he liked spending time with Kageyama these days. It was just somewhat unfortunate for him that Kageyama was part of a set it seemed. Wherever Kageyama went, Hinata would follow.

Though apparently Kageyama had managed to go to a 'setter-only' party and not have his tag-along, so now it was inevitable that Hinata would demand to be allowed in on Kunimi’s carefully laid plans. At least Kindaichi was there to suffer with him.

"Don't fucking touch the eggs." Kunimi remarked, glaring at Hinata slightly. "I don't trust you."

Hinata pouted slightly. "I'm not gonna break them!"

Kageyama felt a distant memory coming back to him, something about smashing eggs into Oikawa's face. He clasped a hand over his mouth as he fought the urge to laugh. Kindaichi was studying the back of the box for the three relatively simple instructions whilst Kunimi was guarding eggs like he was a hen warding off a farmer.

Hinata was looking more like a spooked cat as he looked wide-eyed at the picture on the box Kindaichi was holding. The image of the pile of Christmas cookies carefully iced with green and red decorative pictures looked appetizing to say the least.

"So you put the oil, water and egg in a jug." Kindaichi summarised the box's text. "And then add it to the rest."

"That's it?" Kunimi asked. "Seems far too easy."

"Well yeah, that's the point." Kindaichi remarked. "If I recall, you said; _I'm not doing baking if it's gonna take hours. Just gimme the goods and let me die happy._ "

Kunimi scowled slightly as Hinata and Kageyama shared an amused glance before the latter replied; "we can arrange the dying part if you want."

"You've been hanging out with those idiots from Nekoma and Fukuroudani too much." Kunimi snorted.

"No, that's more of a Tanaka thing." Kageyama shrugged.

Hinata nodded. "Him and Nishinoya were in charge of crucifying Asahi this year."

Kunimi and Kindaichi shared a glance that basically screamed 'what the fuck is wrong with Karasuno' before they both burst into nervous laughter. The three simple ingredients were gathered on Kunimi’s kitchen island counter and considering Hinata's enthusiasm for the relatively simple task, he was granted permission to 'fuck shit up'.

Kunimi didn't mean for him to _literally_ fuck anything up. Though handing Hinata the electric hand mixer was probably one of his worse ideas.

The bowl skidded across the worktop and had to be held down by Kindaichi before it spilt the mixture everywhere. Hinata was gripping the mixer for dear life as the whisks whirled around the cookie batter, powder was being sent everywhere before it had a chance to mix with the liquids. Kageyama's reflexes were faster than Kunimi's as he grabbed the mixer himself and switched it off before things got any further out of hand.

"Why the fuck did you put it on the highest setting?" Kageyama sighed, still holding the mixer as Kunimi surveyed the damage, or rather, the depleted mixture.

"Speed over quality?" Hinata reasoned. "Nishinoya always says that it's better to be faster to the receive than neater."

"Don't apply volleyball logic to baking, dumbass!"

"Why not? You spiked an egg into Oikawa's face before!"

"That was _one_ time and how did you even find out about that?"

Kunimi burst into a fit of laughter despite how annoyed he had been three seconds ago. He had heard about this pancake-saga of Oikawa's and the rumours of egg fights and bad baking puns from the Shiratorizawa setters. The small detail of Oikawa being egged by Kageyama hadn't been played up nearly as much of course, but rumours were rumours.

"How...how did you spike an egg into his face? What even happened?" Kindaichi asked.

Kageyama let out a sigh. "Well, Akaashi tossed an egg to me and I just..." he shrugged. "next thing I know Shirabu's on the floor laughing as the egg is dripping off Oikawa's face."

"I would _pay_ to see that." Kunimi wheezed between laughs. "Please tell me you got a picture."

"Kenma does, probably." Kageyama said with a slight smirk before glancing at the mess on the counter. "So now what?"

Kunimi hummed in thought. "I mean, we could just give up--"

"That's not the baking spirit!" Hinata pouted.

"Hey, you're the one who fucked this up."

Kindaichi sighed heavily. "Or, we could run to the store and get some more ingredients and...make some cookies from scratch?"

The three of them looked at him with different reactions; Hinata with admiration and joy, Kageyama with slight confusion and curiosity and Kunimi with a look that screamed; 'I thought you were on _my_ side here'.

"So who's going to the store?" Kageyama asked, ignoring the fact Kunimi hadn't said yes yet.

Kindaichi shrugged. "I don't mind, you could come with?"

"Sure."

Kunimi looked back and forth between them before putting his hands on his hips. "Uh hello? Yes owner of the kitchen? Can I have a say?"

"Sure, what kind of chocolate do you want"? Kindaichi smiled. "Was thinking we could make hot chocolate too."

"Ooh, yeah, that's something simple." Kageyama nodded.

"I want white chocolate!" Hinata declared.

Kageyama gave him a confused look. "White chocolate. You're weird."

"Hey!" Hinata puffed out his cheeks. "It's just as good as the others!"

Kunimi gave up trying to argue as Kindaichi dusted the remains of the box mix off himself and made for the front door. Kageyama didn't say anything else as he followed quickly behind, not even a retort to Hinata's statement on chocolate.

As the front door closed firmly, Kunimi sighed heavily. "Right, so you clean up this mess you made." He pointed to the messy counter. "I'm going to go find the last few decorations that I need to put up."

"It's Christmas Eve and you haven't finished decorating?!"

Kunimi sighed again. "No, because I've been busy, I have a life you know."

There was a small smile from Hinata as Kunimi left him to clean up. He wasn't annoyed at being lumbered with the cleanup, he _did_ kinda cause it after all. He got on with it as he heard boxes being moved and opened in the adjacent room, the rattling of ornaments and rustling of tinsel piqued his interest but he at least got the kitchen to an acceptable standard before daring to intrude on Kunimi's lounge.

The Christmas tree was already up and decorated; bright white and blue ornaments and tinsel adorned it, fairy lights twinkled in their synchronised patterns. Garland lay atop the mantlepiece of the electric fire, more of the tree ornaments were nestled amongst the greenery. Kunimi was peering into a box when he stepped into the room.

"Need help?" He asked before thinking. Kunimi glanced up with a sceptical look.

"I mean, this garland is going around the window." He gestured to the large window that took up most of the street-facing wall. It was a more western design than what he was used to; a slither of wall space was left between the window and the ceiling and this seemed to be where the garland was destined for.

"So you're saying I'm too short?"

Kunimi raised an eyebrow. "I was going to say that it's more of a Kageyama job, but if you wanna say it like that--"

"Pah!" He puffed out his chest. "Give me a ladder and I'll--"

"We don't have one."

Deflated, Hinata frowned in thought. He looked to the garland and then to the window as he hummed. There was a way, but Kunimi wasn't gonna like it.

"Let me sit on your shoulders."

"Absolutely not." Kunimi replied quickly. "You can't use a hand mixer, I'm not trusting you with a hammer above my head."

"Then you sit on my shoulders."

"And have you drop me? No."

"Then how were you gonna get it up there?"

"Kindaichi."

Hinata sighed over dramatically. "Well then, forget I offered any help."

Kunimi laughed, it caught Hinata off guard. As Hinata waited for Kunimi to stop laughing, the other shook his head.

"I was fucking with you." He sighed. "If you think you can hammer in the hooks to hold it up, then sure."

Being presented with the hammer and little plastic hooks to fix to the wall, Hinata was suddenly a little unsure of what he had agreed to. Kunimi didn't say anything as he left the room for a few moments to retrieve a ladder he previously claimed he hadn't owned.

"Just don't punch a hole in my wall yeah? Don't wanna have to explain to my parents what happened."

Hinata laughed a little as he didn't waste any time. Kunimi tried not to pay much attention, focusing more on rummaging through boxes as the gentle taps of the hammer against the wall hooks rang out. By the time Kageyama and Kindaichi came clattering into the house, Kunimi had laid out the garland and was wondering how on Earth he was going to get it up on the hooks with only a short person like Hinata to help.

"Ah, more tall people, perfect." He remarked as Kindaichi poked his head into the room. "Come here and put this up?"

Without needing an explanation, Kindaichi nodded and shouted through to Kageyama to leave the stuff on the counter and help. Hinata sat on the couch out of the way as the three of them put their collective height to use and under Kunimi's instruction got the heavy garland hanging in its place.

"Oi Hinata," Kunimi glanced over his shoulder, "pick out some ornaments to toss here yeah?"

"As long as you don't spike--"

"Shut up!" Kageyama scoffed.

there was a shared chuckle between them as Hinata scrambled for spare ornaments and began _gently_ tossing them to Kunimi who then decided where within the greenery the sparkly baubles would sit or hang. For a while, there was a blissful silence only broken by the occasional panicked noise as ornaments shifted and threatened to fall.

"Alright," Kunimi nodded as he stepped back, "nice work everyone."

"Is that...a compliment from Kunimi?" Hinata whispered to Kageyama.

"I think so? It's hard to tell?"

Kindaichi laughed as Kunimi pretended to be offended, a mannerism that seemed far too much like Oikawa's. There was a pause before Kageyama mentioned the baking, which got them all back into Kunimi’s small kitchen.

"Okay there is no way normal cookies need all these spices." He said, gesturing to the mini shakers of nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger. "What are you planning to make?"

"Gingerbread brownies." Kageyama replied nonchalantly. "Go big or go home."

"I'm _already home_."

"What is this?" Hinata held up a jar of black syrup looking stuff.

"Molasses." Kindaichi replied. "Part of the gingerbread part."

"Oh."

"God help us all." Kunimi sighed unpacking the remaining ingredients. Flour, spices, butter, white chocolate and various decorating features like miniature chocolate snowmen. "Okay, so you're in charge now." He pointed at Kindaichi. "As I have zero clue how to go about--"

"Well," Kageyama set a hand on Kunimi's shoulder, "it helps to mix everything together."

"Don't be a smart-ass."

"You said you had zero clue so I figured I'd start at the basics of baking."

"Baking 101 with Kageyama-senpai." Hinata mock saluted.

"Fucking kill me." Kunimi groaned.

"But you wanted baked goods before you died." Hinata recalled as Kindaichi started pressing buttons on Kunimi's oven to preheat it. Kageyama was studying the array of baking components before selecting a bowl to be the designated mixing bowl.

"I said so I could die happy. At this point I'd consider dying anyway."

"Geez and you called _me_ moody." Kageyama rolled his eyes.

Kunimi scowled slightly, huffing before tearing open the flour to start measuring it out. For a while the four of them worked together in peace, dry ingredients were sifted together and set aside. Kindaichi took charge of melting the butter and chocolate together as no-one else was going anywhere near the stove if Kunimi had anything to say about it.

"So, whisk the molasses in." Kindaichi instructed. "and then we add eggs."

"Eggs." Kageyama repeated.

Hinata piped up. "I wanna do it!"

"Fine."

Kunimi's eyes widened as Hinata slammed the egg on the side of the counter to crack it open. He expected the egg to end up on the floor but was surprised when Hinata managed to get it in the bowl without issue. Slowly, the mixture was starting to look like brownie batter.

"Y'know, this doesn't look like a disaster." Kindaichi remarked as he brought the baking tin over. "Pour it in."

Kageyama's shaking hands held the heavy bowl over the pan as Kunimi used a large spoon to help the mixture into the pan. Hinata watched in awe as the chocolatey mixture spread across the square tin with little encouragement. Satisfied with the finished product, Kindaichi slid the tin into the oven.

Now they just had to wait. And waiting was never much fun.

"Didn't you mention hot chocolate?" Kunimi asked as they finished wiping the counter down.

Kageyama raised his eyebrows. "You game?"

"Why does that immediately make me fearful?"

"You ever tried eggnog?"

Kunimi wrinkled his nose. "Why?"

"Just..." Kageyama shrugged. "An idea."

"Eggnog sounds gross." Hinata made a disgusted face. For once, Kunimi was inclined to agree with him.

"But eggnog hot chocolate isn't." Kageyama finger gunned. Kindaichi gave him a strange look but laughed slightly. "What? It's something my parents started doing like three Christmas' back. It's good, trust me."

Hinata and Kunimi exchanged a glance. The former speaking up first. "Trust you with food choices?"

"I don't exactly trust your judgment most of the time to be honest." Kunimi added.

"Hey now, it's great, just try it." Kageyama huffed. "I'll make like two, and then if you don't like them, we can make regular ones?"

It was a decent compromise, so they watched Kageyama move around the kitchen looking for the right ingredients. Kindaichi was on hand to source the utensils that were stored away as he had spent far too much time in Kunimi's kitchen over the years and knew where everything was kept.

With intense focus, Kageyama started breaking eggs over a bowl, separating whites from yolks. After beating the yolks, adding sugar and milk with a dash of nutmeg, he set them aside before beating the egg whites. Once at a satisfactory consistency, he mixed them all together. He took this mixture to the stove and heated it up, adding chunks of chocolate.

He served the hot beverage in two mugs to them, folding his arms across his chest and giving them a proud smirk.

"Go on then."

Kunimi was curious, Hinata picked up the mug and blew across the surface to cool it slightly before taking an experimental sip. Kunimi followed suit, not sure what to make of it.

"Usually we put rum in it, but that's just my mom's preference." Kageyama shrugged as they didn't recoil in disgust. "So it might be a little bland?"

Hinata quickly drained his mug, beaming as he set it down and met Kageyama's gaze. "Oh my god it's so good!"

Kunimi didn't want to admit it, but it kinda was. "Yeah, curious if rum makes it taste that much different."

"Do you have any?"

"No, but I guess I'll put it on a list of things to get one day."

Kindaichi accepted Kunimi's mug and took his own taste test. He nodded in approval, slightly taken aback at how much he liked it.

"So, more?"

"Yes!" Hinata replied quickly.

With the rest of the baking time for the brownies to kill, Kageyama took the time to make a large quantity of the new crowd favourite drink. He even took the time to write the short instructions on a post-it for future reference.

By the time the brownies were done, a lot of eggnog had been consumed. If there _had_ been rum in it, Kunimi might've been a little concerned at letting anyone attempt to decorate the brownies. As they were cooling, the writing icing was unpacked and the mini chocolate snowmen lined up waiting for their new homes.

"Okay, so don't waste all the icing." Kunimi sighed as he cut the slab of brownie into equal parts, they each got given four slices to decorate. "There's not a lot to go around."

"You sound like Suga." Hinata giggled.

"Shut up." Kunimi tried to fight the laugh that was bubbling up inside.

There were a few moments of silent concentration as they focused on their creations. Whilst there were festive designs like the obligatory Christmas tree and snowmen, there were also a few volleyballs and terrible puns.

"What's it say?" Hinata peered at Kageyama's third brownie that seemed to have an outline of a cup of eggnog.

"I'm _egg-cited_ for the holidays."

Kunimi groaned loudly, setting down his writing icing with a half-hearted glare at the other. "That's terrible."

"What about this," Kindaichi held up his brownie with a Christmas tree on it, "have a _tree-mendous_ Christmas."

"Don't."

Hinata laughed as he cottoned on to the fact Kunimi's disdain for puns was bigger than most people. He looked down at his last blank brownie and had a bright idea. After quickly illustrating a string of fairy lights, he held it up to Kunimi as an offering;

"You should _lighten up._ "

Kunimi inhaled sharply, pinching the bridge of his nose as Kindaichi and Kageyama laughed at his expense. He looked down at his array of brownies, picking up his snowman themed one; "Takes one to _snow_ one."

" _Icy_ what you did there." Hinata beamed.

"It's _snow_ joke."

Kindaichi cleared his throat. "Akira actually cracking puns, say it ain't _snow_."

They broke into a fit of laughter at themselves and each other. Never did Kunimi envisage that he'd be laughing at puns with the likes of Kageyama and Hinata. He decided not to dwell on it as they cracked a few more between adding the finishing touches and then clearing up.

Kageyama made another round of eggnog hot chocolate before they retired to the lounge. It was getting dark outside so the tree felt brighter as the coffee table was now filled with brownies and hot drinks.

"Wait." Kunimi pulled out his phone. "I need to make Shittykawa jealous."

"What?" Kageyama was confused as Kunimi started moving things around on the coffee table before demanding they shuffled closer on the couch next to the tree.

"I need to get more likes on a Christmas photo than him." Kunimi replied, Kindaichi laughed.

"Oh yeah, that bet."

"What bet?" Kageyama asked as Kunimi carefully set his phone up to get a wide shot.

"The bet that Kunimi made with Oikawa last month to see who could get more likes, came off the back of Oikawa stating he took the best Christmas pictures ever."

"Wait we're being dragged into a betting war?"

"Essentially." Kindaichi shrugged. "why?"

Hinata perked up as he noted Kunimi setting a timer. "Well, we can tell Karasuno, and Nekoma...and they'll tell Fukuroudani and then Kunimi will win because they all wanna see Oikawa eat dirt."

Kageyama gestured to Hinata and nodded. "What he said."

"Perfect." Kunimi remarked, finalising the timer. "Now be ready."

He pressed the capture button and quickly made his way back to the couch. There were peace signs and warm smiles directed at the camera until the camera shutter sound clicked. Upon reviewing it, Kunimi actually smiled. He sent it to Kageyama without prompting before pulling up Instagram to stake his claim in winning this bet.

_'Had a blast baking and hanging out with these idiots tonight #XmasEve #GoodFoodGreatFriends #EatShitShittykawa'_

"Was the last one necessary?" Kindaichi snorted as he saw it come up on his feed.

"Of course."

Kageyama was already in the process of sending it to the other setters, minus Oikawa of course, and Hinata had posted the link to the Karasuno group chat rallying everyone to the cause. Nishinoya and Tanaka were already on it and the notifications on everyone's phones started going a little bit mental.

"In all seriousness," Kunimi set his phone aside, "this was fun."

"Yeah?" Kageyama gave him a small smile. "It was, certainly less chaotic than going to Semi's house the other day."

"What happened there?" Kunimi snorted.

"Too much. Too damn much."

Kunimi's phone pinged, he glanced at the text message and started laughing.

**From: Shittykawa:** _Akira you little bitch, nowhere in our bet did I say you could plot against me using other teams!_

He decided to reply in the same manner:

**To: Shittykawa:** _Tbh, we never wrote it down soooo ¯\\_(_ _ツ_ _)_/¯ #NoRules #DontBeASoreLoser_

"And that's enough of Oikawa for now." Kindaichi plucked Kunimi's phone from his hands. "So Tobio, what happened at Semi's house?"

Kageyama first took a large bite of his brownie, savouring the taste before actually starting the tale. "Well the craziest part was Shirabu's snowman prank..."

Kunimi wouldn't claim that this was how he expected that evening to turn out as he listened to Kageyama recall the crazy experience from a few days ago, but he was happy he hadn't kicked Hinata out. Maybe next year he'd get an actual invitation to the festivities, but that was a thought for the new year, not that evening.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> Recipes I loosely used as reference:  
> [Gingerbread Brownies](https://www.loveandoliveoil.com/2015/12/gingerbread-brownies.html)  
> [Eggnog Hot Chocolate](https://pankobunny.wordpress.com/2014/12/18/eggnog-hot-chocolate-%e3%82%a8%e3%83%83%e3%82%b0%e3%83%8e%e3%83%83%e3%82%b0%e3%81%ae%e3%83%9b%e3%83%83%e3%83%88%e3%83%81%e3%83%a7%e3%82%b3/)


End file.
